Sheet separator



L. SHARP SHEET SEPARATOR Jan. 21, 1930.

Filed Aug. 1, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet L. SHARP SHEETSEPARATOR Jan. 21, 1930.

Filed Aug. 1, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet m w m m m. YQ Y U Q TuLhW' H u' D 5 p 5 bla Gina I V I! I I Patented Jan. 21, 19343 UNFTED STATES LEWIS SHARP, F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA SHEET SEPABATOR Application filed August 1, 1927. Serial No. 209,729.

This invention relates to oilice accessories, and particularly to a copy holder. An object of this invention is to provide an improved device for holding and displaying copy which is to be transcribed, and to provide a device of this character which will hold a large number of sheets to be copied and will automatically feed a suitable line and display the copy line by line, and which will discharge copy in an even manner.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device of this character in which the individual line which is being copied will alone be visible and to provide a simplified and accurate means of manipulation in changing from line to line and with a minimum of attention upon the part of the operator.

A further object of this invention is to pro vide a device of this character which is posi tive and sure in its operation, which is simple of mounting, which is easily and quickly adjusted to the desired height or angle, and generally to provide a device of this character of the highest efliciency, the simplest structure, one which is sure and durable, and without complicated parts or of danger of becoming disabled, and which may be manufactured and installed at a minimum cost.

With the foregoing and. other objects in view, I have invented the device shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved device; partly diagrammatic.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the showing in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the showing in Figure 1, from the opposite end to that shown in Figure 2;

Figure 1 is an enlargement of a portion of the showing in Figure 2, partly broken away;

Figure 5 is a broken away showing of the showing in Figure 2 at substantially right angles thereto;

Figure 6 is an enlarged showing of a portion of the showing in Figure 5, partly broken away;

Figure 7 is a sectional detail of the feed rollers.

Like

reference characters indicate like parts throughout the specification and in the several views in the drawings, in which I provide a clamp 2 adapted to embrace the upper cross arm 3 of the usual metallic tubular stand of a typewriter. I provide also a second clamp 4 being adapted to engage the usual second cross arm 5, of the usual form of metallic tubular typewriter stand. For different types of stands or other desired mounts, I vary the form of clamp or attach ment medium.

The clamps 2 and 41 in this instance carry respectively secondary clamps 6 and 7, which are preferably counterparts of each other and are tightened by means of bolts 8, the clamps 6 and 7 vertically embracing the tubular member 9, which tubular member 9 is adjustable upward and downward by the loosening and tightening of the clamps 6 and 7 and also is revoluble upon its axis and adapted to be set thereby at any height or at any angle relative to the stand 3. Carried by the tubular member 9 is a frame 10 which frame includes a base transverse tubular member 11, upright standards 12, and top hood-like member 13. Connecting the uprights 12 and journalled in the uprights 12 are a pair of shafts 14.- and 15, which shafts carry respectively sprockets 16 and 17, the sprockets 16 and 17 being connected by a chain 18. Journalled in spaced relation in the uprights 12 above and below the shaft 15 are other shafts 19 and 20, and operative by gears 21, 22 and 23, from the shaft 15. The shafts 19 and 20 respectively carry feed rollers 24: and 25, preferably of smooth steel. The rollers 24; and 25 are OI like form; that is to say, preferably of smooth steel. The shaft 20 is the drive shaft and upon its rotation in a counter-clockwise direction as illustrated in Figure 4, a clockwise movementis given to the shaft 15 and a counter-clockwise movement is given to the shaft 19, whereby the shaft 15, together with the shaft 14; retates in the opposite direction to that of the shaft 20 or in a clockwise direction. Carried by the uprights 12 are rough rollers 27 and 28 respectively, yieldingly held against the rollers 2d and 25 by means of springs 29 and 30, and frictionally driven by the said rollers 24 and 25. There is provided suspended to the uprights 12 a magazine 31, which magazine is of suitable size for carrying the paper stock upon which is written the matter to he transcribed, and which magazine 31 is adapted to carry a large number of sheets. Pivotally mounted to the uprights 12 above the magazine 31 are pressure fingers 32, guide fingers 33 and a selector finger 34. The pressure fingers are mounted to a shaft 35, which shaft 35 is journalled in the uprights 12, the fingers 32 being fixedly mounted to the said shaft and being yieldingly urged by a spring 36 in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Figure 6. The guide lingers 33 are mounted to a shaft 37, which shaft 37 is likewise carried by the uprights 12. A lever 38 is pii otally mounted at 39 to one of the uprights 12 and carries a cam head 40 adapted to engage a pendant arm 41 carried by the shaft and move the arm 41 against the yielding of the spring 36, whereby when the said lever 38 is in the position shown in Figure 4 the pressure fingers 32 are out of the way or in clearance with the replenishing of the magazine 31, but upon moving the lever 38 in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Figure 6, the arm 41.. together with the pressure fingers 32 will move in a counterclockwise direction and press upon the copy in the magazine 31, forcing the copy against a plurality of feed rollers 41 fixed to the shaft 14. The pressure fingers 32 constantly act to urge the stack of sheets 4 bodily towards the feed rollers 41 so that when the latter are rotated in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 6, the shee s will be singly fed upwardly from the stack, between the guide and pressure fingers, and then between the pairs of rollers 25 27 and 2428 which continue the upward feeding of the sheets. It will be clear that as the lower end of each sheet clears the rollers 41*, the latter will initiate the upward feeding of the next succeeding sheet so that the confronting ends of successive sheets will overlap and thus produce the effect of a continuous sheet feeding upwardly.

It will be noted that an arm 41 is fixed to the shaft 37 and provided with a pin 41 which projects into the path of movement of the lever 38 so that when the lever is moved to the position shown in Fig. 4 it will strike the pin 41 to rock the shaft 37 and hence he guide fingers 33 to the position shown in this figure. wherein the guide fingers also clear the discharge opening of the magazine to permit the free and unrestricted access to the magazine for the replenishing of the supply of sheets therein. The shaft 20 carries a cylindrical clutch member 42 which clutch member includes a tapering socket 43 carrying a. roller 44, the socket 43being that of the usual form of roller clutch having an enlarged spacing at its end 45, the lesser spacing at its end 46, whereby, upon the rotation of a ratchet sleeve 47 the contact of the ratchet sleeve 47 upon the roller 44, when the ratchet sleeve is rotating in a clockwise direction as shown in Figure 6, will cause the roller 44 to seek and wedge in the smaller end 46, thereby locking the ratchet 47 to the clutch member 42 and causing the rotation of the shaft 20. A hand wheel 48 is mounted to the shaft 20, which hand wheel 48 is provided with a pin 49, which pin 49 projects into the path of the roller 44, and which hand wheel normally turns frictionally with the shaft 20, but upon turning the hand wheel 48 in a counterclockwise direction, as shown in Figure 6, the pin 49 will force the roller 44 backward or into the enlarged portion of the socket 43, thereby loosening the contact between the ratchet 47 and the annular member 42, and permitting the free movement of the shaft 20 backwards without moving the ratchet 47. As a means for operating the ratchet 47 I provide an annular shell drum 40, which drum 40' carries a plurality of pawls 51, in this instance, two, as illustrated; the drum 40 being loosely carried by the shaft 20. The drum 40 is yieldingly held and caused to rotate in a clockwise direction, as shown in Figure 6, by means of a spring 52, which spring 52 is anchored to one of the standards 12. Connected to the drum 40 is a wire 53 passing through a flexible casing 54 and connected with a foot pedal 55. Upon the downward movement of the foot pedal 55 the wire 53 draws upon the drum 40, moving it in a counterclockwise direction, whereby the pawls 51 slip backward on the ratchet 47 and upon releasing of the pedal 55 the spring 52 causes a clockwise movement of the drum and likewise of the ratchet 47 and of the shaft 20, which in turn causes a counterclockwise movement of the roll 25 and a clockwise movement of the rolls 27 and 28, thereby elevating the contact sheet in the magazine 31, which sheet is first lifted by the roll 41, and passing along the guide 33 passes between the rolls 25, 27 and thence up between the roll 28 and the roll 24 and thence engages the arcuate lower face 56 of the hood member 13 and passes above a rod 57 suitably spaced below the hood member 13. Carried by the shaft 20 and mounted upon the hub 58 of the hand wheel 48 is a knurled thumb wheel 59.

In operation, a number of sheets of matter to be copied are placed in the magazine 31 after the upward movement of the lever 38 to clear the pressure, guide and selecting mechanism and then by downward movement of the lever 38 of the guide, selecting and pressure mechanism are brought into proper positions; thence, by the turning of the hand wheel 48 or the thumb wheel 59 the first sheet is suitably elevated so that the first line upon the said sheet is between the rollers 27 and 28, the rollers 27 and 28 serving as blinds to visually separate the displayed line between them from the rest of the copy; thence the operator, after copying the first line, presses upon the pedal 55, thereby elevating the copy to the next line to be copied. As a means of adjusting the proper spacing between the lines I provide a pendant adjustment rod 60 which is pivotally mounted to the drum 40. Upon the rod 60 are spaced-apart thumb nuts 5]. and 62 between which thumb nuts, anchored to the frame, is a guide channel 63. By the adjustment of the nuts 61 and 62 the movement of the rod 60 is limited to the pre- ClQtGlHllllQCl distance, which movement of the rod 60 likewise limits the movement of the drum 40 whereby by suitably adjusting the nuts 61 and 62, the desired movement of the copy can be had in spacing from line to line. As means of correcting this spacing, and also as a means of moving the copy manually to a desired position either backward or forward, I provide the hand wheel 48 and the thumb wheel 59. When it is desired to move the copy backward, upon a counterclockwise movement of the wheel 48, as shown in Figure 6, the pin 49 releases the roller clutch member 44 and permits this readjustment.

Having now described my invention, that which I claim to be new, and desire to procure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination in a copy display device, a magazine for holding a plurality of sheets of copy, means for feeding sheets from the nagazine and means for pressing the sheets in the magazine against the feeding means including a pendant L-shaped bar movably mounted to yieldingly press directly against the outermost sheet of copy.

2. In combination in a copy display device, a magazine for holding a plurality of sheets of copy, a movably mounted guide member, and means for moving the guide member from its guiding position for replenishing the magazine.

3. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising a magazine adapted to contain a stack of sheets, a feed roller mounted for rotary movement about a fixed axis, and spring pressed pivoted fingers engaging the outermost sheet at one side of the stack for urging the stack bodily towards the feed roller to maintain the outermost sheet at the opposite side of the stack in engagement with the feed roller so that upon rotation of the latter the sheets will be fed singly from the stack.

4. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising a magazine adapted to contain a stack of sheets, feeding means mounted for rotation about a ixed axis, means for urging the stack bodily towards the feeding means to maintain the outermost sheet of the stack in engagement with the feeding means so that upon rotation of the latter the sheets will be fed from the stack, means co-operating with the last means to define a passage through which the sheet being fed is caused to travel, and means for moving the second and third means to nonobstructing positions with respect to the discharge opening of the magazine to permit replenishing of the supply of sheets in the latter.

5. A sheet feeding mechanisi'n comprising a magazine adapted to contain a stack of sheets, a feed roller mounted for rotary movement about a fixed axis, spring pressed pivoted fingers engaging the outermost sheet at one side of the stack for urging the stack bodily towards the feed roller to maintain the outermost sheet at the opposite side of the stack in engagement with the feed roller so that upon rotation of the latter the sheets will be fed singly from the stack, other pivoted fingers co-operating with the first fingers to define a passageway therebetween through which the sheet being fed is caused to travel, and manually operable means for rocking the first and second mentioned fingers to nonobstructing positions with respect to the discharge opening of the magazine to permit replenishing of the supply of sheets in the latter.

6. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising a magazine adapted to contain a stack of sheets, feeding means mounted for rotation about a fixed axis, and pressure fingers pivotally mounted on a fixed axis and normally urged into engagement with the outermost sheet at one side of the stack to urge the stack bodily towards the feeding means and maintain the outermost sheet at the opposite side of the stack in engagement with the feeding means so that upon rotation of the latter the sheets will be fed singly from the stack.

7. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising a magazine adapted to contain a stack of sheets, feeding means mounted for rotation about a fixed axis, pressure fingers pivotally mounted on a fixed axis and normally urged into engagement with the outermost sheet at one side of the stack to urge the stack bodily towards the feeding means and maintain the outermost sheet at the opposite side of the stack in engagement with the feeding means so that upon rotation of the latter, the sheets will be fed singly from the stack, guide fingers pivotally mounted on a fixed axis and normally co-operating with the pressure fingers to define a passageway through which the sheet being fed is caused to travel, and means for rocking the pressure and guide fingers about their respective axes to occupy non-obstructing positions with respect to the discharge opening of the magazine so as to permit replenishing of the supply of sheets in the latter.

S. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising a magazine adapted to contain a stack of sheets, means for feeding the sheets singly from the stack, movably mounted pressure fingers for maintaining the sheets of the stack in feeding relation to said feeding means, movably mounted guide fingers co-operating with the pressure fingers to define a passageway through which the sheets being fed are caused to travel, and means for moving the pressure and guide fingers to non-obstructing positions with respect to the discharge opening of the magazine for the replenishing of the supply of sheets therein.

9. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising a magazine adapted to contain a stack of sheets, a rotatable feed shaft, feed rollers fixed to the shaft, a rock shaft, pressure fingers fixed to the rock shaft and normally urged in one direction into engagement with the outermost sheet at one side of the stack to urge the stack bodily towards the feed rollers and maintain the outermost sheet at the other side of the stack in engagement with the feed rollers so that upon rotation of the latter the sheets will be fed from the stack, a second rock shaft, guide fingers fixed to the second rock shaft and normally co- )perating with the pressure fingers to define a passageway through which the sheets being fed are caused to travel, and means by which the pressure and guide fingers can be rocked about their respective axes to a non-obstruct ing position with respect to the discharge opening of the magazine so as to permit free and unrestricted access to the latter.

10. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising a magazine adapted to contain a stack of eheets. a rotatable feed shaft, feed rollers fixed to the shaft, a rock shaft, pressure fingers fixed to the rock shaft and normally urged in one direction into engagement with the outermost sheet at one side of the stack to urge the stack bodily towards the feed second rock shaft, guide fingers fixed to the second rock shaft and normally co-operating with the pressure fingers to define a passageway through which the sheets being fed are caused to travel, and means by which the pressure and guide fingers can be rocked about their respective axes to a non-obstructing position with respect to the discharge opening of the magazine so as to permit free and unrestricted access to the latter, the last i means comprising a hand lever, an arm secured to the first rock shaft and movable by the lever, and a second arm fixed to the second rock shaft and having a pin engageable by g the lever.

LEWIS SHARP. 

